1796 - John Marshall goes to France

The future chief justice, John Marshall,
boarded the square rigger Grace, on July 17, and sailed
for France as an official envoy of the Federal government. (for more, click here)

Marshall would conduct his official duties
in Paris at the same time Napoleon's foreign minister, Talleyrand,
was secretly working out the details of the Treaty of San
Illdefonso with Spain in which Spain returned the Louisiana
Territory to French control.